Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Four weeks might not seem like much. But four weeks seems like everything on the volleyball court for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Jackie Arnold had a career-high eight block assists, and teammates Cailin Fellows and Jessica Miller hammered 10 kills apiece, leading SPU to a sweep of Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match on Saturday night.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-10, 25-17, 25-13. The sweep was Seattle Pacific's third of the season, all of those coming in the past five matches.
 
Barely a month ago – Sept. 22, to be precise – the Falcons dropped a four-game match to those same Yellowjackets in Montana, 25-21, 25-15, 18-25, 25-17. SPU has won five of its seven matches since then.





 
“When we lost at Billing, everyone was pretty fired up to come back and work hard, and we did,” said sophomore opposite Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.), who did her share on Saturday with seven kills, 10 digs, and a career-high five service aces. “This time, it was a pride thing. It was, 'We're going to get them this time.' Everyone came into this match ready to go and ready to show what we've got.”
 
Seattle Pacific hits the road this coming week, visiting Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday. The Falcons beat NNU in five games and lost to Central in five last month in Brougham.

Along with her eight block assists on Saturday, freshman middle blocker Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.) had five kills and hit .400 for the Falcons (9-10, 6-4 GNAC). Senior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) had three block assists. Sophomore outside hitter Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS) had five block assists and hit a team-leading .500 with just one error on 18 attacks. Junior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had an error-free .429 match with six kills and three block assists.
 
Senior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) totaled 32 assists and served a string of 11 straight points in Game 1 to help SPU stretch a 10-8 lead to 22-8. She served up another six in a row in Game 2 as the Falcons went from 12-7 to 18-7 ahead.
 
SPU kept it going after the intermission, running off four straight in expanding a 7-6 lead to 11-6, and never letting Montana State Billings (8-10, 5-5 GNAC) closer than four after that.
 





“We really had everyone on the court playing well the entire match, which was really good to see,” Falcons head coach Chris Johnson said. “We looked like a really fluid unit, and we had a strong performance across the board.”
 
Seattle Pacific hit a season-high for the second straight match, this time finishing at .352 with a season-low eight errors on 88 attacks.
 
Defensively, the Falcons limited Billings to just .010 hitting – well below the .328 the Yellowjackets hit for in Montana last month. After allowing a combined 36 kills and .420 hitting to Monica Grimsrud, Jody Lutz and Taylor Adams in the first match, SPU limited that trio to just 17 kills and .111 hitting on Saturday.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0
 
Game scores – 25-10, 25-17, 25-13.
 
Service aces – MSUB 2 (2 players with 1), SPU 9 (Madi Cavell 5, Shelby Swanson 2).
Kills – MSUB 24 (Monica Grimsrud 9), SPU 39 (Cailin Fellows 10, Jessica Miller 10).
Assists – MSUB 22 (Kyndal Williams 20), SPU 36 (Swanson 32).
Digs – MSUB 33 (Erin Compton 15), SPU 42 (Brianna Leenders 14, Cavell 10).
Block assists / solo – MSUB 4 / 0 (4 players with 1 / 0), SPU 22 / 0 (Jackie Arnold 8 / 0 solo, Miller 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – MSUB 24-23-97--.010 (Taylor Adams 5-1-12--.333), SPU 39-8-88--.352 (Miller 10-1-18--.500, Nikki Lowell 6-0-14--.429).
Attendance – 136.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 9-10, 6-4 GNAC. Montana State Billings 8-10, 5-5 GNAC.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, Thursday, Oct. 25, 6 p.m. PDT.